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Alice Marble
Alice Marble (September 28, 1913 - December 13, 1990) was World No. 1 American tennis player who won 18 Grand Slam championships between 1936 and 1940 who worked as associate editor on Wonder Woman from 1941-1945. She created and wrote the "Wonder Women of History" feature from 1942-1946. Early Life and Tennis Career Born in the small town of Beckwourth, Plumas County, California, Marble moved with her family at the age of five to San Francisco. A tomboy, she excelled in many sports, including baseball; but her brother persuaded her to try the more lady-like tennis. She quickly mastered the game, playing in Golden Gate Park. She suffered a setback at age fifteen when she was raped by a stranger, but she overcame the trauma and won several California junior tournaments. At the U.S. Championships, Marble won the Singles title (1936, 1938–40); the Women's Doubles title with Sarah Palfrey Cooke (1937–40); and the Mixed Doubles title with Gene Mako (1936), Don Budge (1938), Harry Hopman (1939), and Bobby Riggs (1940). At Wimbledon, Marble won the Singles title (1939); the Women's Doubles title with Cooke (1938–39); and the Mixed Doubles title with Budge (1937–38) and Riggs (1939). In Wightman Cup competition, Marble lost only one Singles and one Doubles match in the years she competed (1933, 1937–40). According to Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Marble was ranked in the World Top Ten 1936-39 (no rankings issued 1940-45), reaching a career high in those rankings of World No. 1 in 1939. Marble was included in the year-end Top Ten rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association in 1932-33 and 1936-40. She was the top-ranked U.S. player in 1936-40. Marble was the Associated Press Athlete of the Year in 1939 and 1940. After capping a stellar amateur career in 1940, Marble turned professional and earned a great sum of money, travelling around playing exhibition tournaments. Wonder Woman and Later Life As assistant editor in the early days of Wonder Woman, she sent out complimentary copies of Wonder Woman #1 to prominent American women and women in the armed forces, promoting the series and asking for suggestions for the Wonder Women of History feature.Letter to Elsa AllenLetter to Army Nurse During World War II, Marble was married to Joe Crowley, a pilot, who was killed in action over Germany. Only days before his death, she miscarried their child following a car accident. After an attempt to kill herself, she recuperated and, in 1945, agreed to spy for U.S. intelligence. Her mission involved renewing contact with a former lover, a Swiss banker, and obtaining Nazi financial data. The operation ended when a Nazi agent shot her in the back, but she was extracted and recovered. Few details of the operation ever emerged. The story was told only after her death when Courting Danger, a second autobiography, was published. Marble greatly contributed to the desegregation of American tennis by writing an editorial in support of Althea Gibson for the July 1, 1950, issue of American Lawn Tennis Magazine. The article read, in part, "Miss Gibson is over a very cunningly wrought barrel, and I can only hope to loosen a few of its staves with one lone opinion. If tennis is a game for ladies and gentlemen, it's also time we acted a little more like gentle-people and less like sanctimonious hypocrites.... If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of women players, it's only fair that they should meet that challenge on the courts." Marble said that, if Gibson were not given the opportunity to compete, "then there is an ineradicable mark against a game to which I have devoted most of my life, and I would be bitterly ashamed." Gibson, age 23, was given entry into the 1950 U.S. Championships, becoming the first African-American player, man or woman, to compete in a Grand Slam event. In 1964, Marble was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Weakened by pernicious anaemia, Marble died at a hospital in Palm Springs, California. Alice Marble Tennis Courts, providing a breathtaking view of the Pacific ocean and the Golden Gate bridge from the top of Russian Hill in San Francisco, is named her honor. Sources Category:Golden Age Category:American creators Category:Writers Category:Editors Category:Wonder Woman Category:Comic Books Category:1913 Births Category:1990 Deaths